001[Music] good evening everyone and welcome to the May 11th uh meeting of the school committee this is a uh this uh segment of our meeting will be uh school choice open hearing um uh school choice is an annual procedure for the Milton public schools and the Milton school committee Milton is not currently a school choice District um but I will defer to superintendent jet to provide us a brief overview of school choice and uh superintendent Jed if you could take it from there please thank you chair Rosemary if you guys allow me a second to just share my screen and then if someone could tell me if they they could see it because I won't be able to see it are you guys a y thank you very much um so this is the school
002choice presentation of May it's a very quick uh presentation inter District school choice that is under uh chapter 76 12b of the Massachusetts General law the details uh the terms and the conditions of interdistrict school choice as it stands right now the Milton public school and the school committee has a a policy policy jfbb regarding school choice um how does it work in the interdistrict school choice program allows for a parent a guing to roll his or her child in the school district that is not the child's home school district for examp example a child in Randolph a child in High Park a child in Dorchester M ofan Canton Sharon will have the opportunity if voted by the school committee to allow school choice prior to uh declaring uh the school choice the district the
003district uh has to apply to the state to determine and we have to determine how many seats we have Avail available and at what grade levels do we have seats available each year the Milton school committee must must vote on whether or not to participate in the school choice program if they decide to uh participate in the program they will have to submit uh the paperwork to the Department of Elementary secondary education prior to June June 1st therefore we're having that meeting in hopefully a subsequent vote this evening if Milton school committee voted to participate in school choice a student who enrolls in Milton Public Schools through this program will have the right to remain in the system until they graduate despite whether or not we de de side in later years to change that
004historically the Milton Public Schools committee has not voted to participate in interdistrict school choice I only know from my experience on the school committee the last couple of years we have not done so simply because of the concerned about uh exess of uh enrollment so at this point in time that's kind of a brief a very brief overview of school choice um I see Dr Carol has her hand up I was just GNA say we um we weren't seeing this we saw the M the title slide we didn't see the other slides as you were scrolling through if there was detailed information on them sorry you muted superintendent jet give me one second can you see it now yes but it's not in presentation mode yeah it's just the title slide I don't know why
005it's going to Black hold on one second can you see that slide yes okay so basically what I was sharing with you I would just do it this way because it seems like when I go into presentation mode it's going to Black on my screen so that's why I thought you guys were able to see it but I hope it's still large enough for you to see it it's good basically it's referring to the terms and condition of inter uh District school choice is this slide just refers to the uh milon Public Schools policy on it jfbb this one is the school choice the child's defining it you have the right or if we vot on it this is not necessarily the students home school district uh prior to declaring thems a school dist a
006school choice District in this case Milton the district would have to determine how many seats that were available and and what grades they available this slide each year Milton uh school committee has to vote as to whether or not they want to participate in the program school choice program and that vote must be submitted to the Department of Elementary and secondary education desie if if they decide to do so by June 1st and then the last slide is simply if Milton school committee voted to participate in school choice a student enrolled in the Milton Public Schools through this program will have the right to remain in the system regardless if you decide at a later point to change the policy historically the Milton public uh school committee has not voted to participate in the interdistrict
007school choice program this kind of came up indirectly on the um town meeting the school bill uh committee meeting we just had moments ago whether or not Milton was a Meco program or or or alluded to a school choice so it was not necessarily addressed in detailed I encourage people to hop on this meeting if they wanted to hear what the vote will be so that's pretty much it and I believe you guys have more of a descriptor in your uh packets I'm just going to stop sharing for a second and then I'll turn it back over to uh chair Rosemary very good thank thank you um so since this is an open hearing on school choice I um will ask the audience if there's anyone who's on the meeting tonight who wishes to speak
008on this subject and if you uh would like to um make a comment about uh school choice if you can please raise your hand and we will promote [Music] you I'll give it a minute I don't see any hands raised um so um um I I will say that without a specific no vote the system does become a choice District um so at our U meeting that follows this uh we will be taking a vote um and this vote will limit um Milton Public Schools population to those students who live in the town over Milton residents May attend other choice districts this vote does not limit or impede any other agreements that exist in collective bargaining agreements um but without any other um members of the public who would like to speak on this issue
009I will call this hearing closed and um adjourned to our regular meeting so I have a motion to adjourn the the open hearing please so Move Motion to adjourn and anyone second very good thank you and a roll call vote um Dr Carol yes member Ross Danny yes Dr Dr Miranda yes member varges yes and member white yes chair rosemarin yes so that uh adjourns our school choice hearing open hearing and now we will move into our uh regular uh school committee meeting so um call our regular May 11th school committee meeting to order um as as you know since our meeting is beginning much later than usual we have a foreshortened agenda um um which you all have received and um just ask if there are any um changes or deletions on the agenda
010and hearing hearing none um we'll we'll consider the agenda approved and we will move on to the next agenda item uh which is a superintendent report and superintendent jet thanks again rosemar I have three quick updates one is very important and I know a lot of people have emailed over the course of the last four or five days regarding the increase in coid cases not only in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts north for County and uh the town of Milton um today every Wednesday we report to the state the co cases for the week um that week that week period is from Thursday to Wednesday at 5:00 pm we give them the updated cases today we reported to the state that we have 12 positive staff and 73 positive students uh that will be in the
011blog tomorrow and it will be highlighted by individual schools we have 17 students positive at cicott 12 at Cunningham one at Glover 24 at Tucker 13 at PS and six at Milton High School the staff we don't do by buildings it it goes by District um as of May 11th I want to give people the entire picture as of May 11th which is today since September 1st we had 199 faculty and staff that tested positive this Academic Year and we had 1227 students in total who have reported positive cases um today it was interesting I attended the Norful County Comm commers uh meeting at 1:00 to discuss Opa funding and uh they informed all of us that um many of the counties in Massachusetts are now in the Red Zone which is considered high risk
012I also spoke with Caroline cassella from the Board of Health who uh informed me that she seen an increase in the uh 7-Day positivity uh rate it went up from 403 to 4.93 she reports Milton cases uh every other other two weeks her next reporting uh period uh reporting schedule is tomorrow she will send out out at 5:00 what are the things she expressed to me and I don't want to speak for her but we all know this the cases that you see reported whether it be in the state north county or the town of Milton only those cases that are positive or deemed positive with a PCR test uh that many people are doing the at home test and coming up with a positive that does not get registered into uh the state's day
013database unless of course someone gets severely ill goes to the hospital and then that is recorded into the database under that um one of the things that I did want to say to the parents we're going to continue to state of course it is as of right now the school committee policy is Mas optional for Milton Public Schools but I want to reassure people and this will be stated in the blog tomorrow as well we're going to continue with our mitigating strategies that we've employed for the entire Academic Year and that is have all of our air purifiers on in each classroom in office um we're going to make sure that all of our rooftop units stay open and on to help circulate fresh air increase the number of fresh air exchanges uh although uh
014the milon public schools POC right now is mass optional I would encourage anybody who has a concern or or or feels uncertain about the coid cases that we encourage them to wear masks particularly indoors and this for them and again that is only an encouragement it's not a mandate I want to be clear on that please we're going to continue to uh encourage uh routine handwashing we're going to remember uh remind all parents they can still opt into the atome testing program that we have that will be in the blog as well and then we also want to make sure that parents are still checking their children uh for symptoms uh if you could always go to the website we have a whole page on co uh Co related issues or updates if your children
015are experiencing some of the symptoms as opposed to sending them to school I've said this on several meetings symptomatic testing which is what we do but to be clear it's not when your children wake up ex uh exhibiting those symptoms you send them to school to be tested is when a student comes to school and as the day progresses they start to feel sick and they go to the nurse that's what we do the symptomatic testing we do not want uh people putting their children who are sick on the bus with these symptoms or send them to schools to get tested uh because they run the risk of exposing other uh folks um I will talk a little bit about the impact of this as I mentioned 199 faculty and staff since September uh 1st
016they've been positive that is a minimum of five days a minimum five days that they're out they could return that has an impact of 995 days we have faculty and staff that are out that's probably higher because we all remember the quarantine time was shortened on Monday May uh December 27th that's when the CDC came out and changed that to date the 1227 students that had it that's a minimum of 600 I mean 6,135 days that uh this pandemic has had an impact these are only days related to coid so I share that information because is within the Milton Public Schools we have been able to navigate this to the best of our ability a lot of this is beyond our control and guidance is coming down we monitor the situation on a daily basis
017and even more so lately because as we know there's a lot of conversation about concerns about the increases in uh these positive cases uh I do know the latest I heard was around six o'clock they're going to start uh going back to the Wastewater to see because a lot of people may be asymptomatic itic and not even realize it but that's how they could determine the prevalence of uh Co 19 in various communities so I share that with you guys um as a school committee just to give you an update it will be a section of this in the blog tomorrow to make sure that families are are well aware of it uh and they make those decisions but we ask people to really follow uh the guidance but especially if your students are home
018so we can maintain our end of the year activities as best as weekend that includes your Elementary uh routines and activities your middle school events and activities High School events activities graduation and award shows so award ceremonies excuse me not sure if anybody has any questions regarding uh the coid information I just shared any questions doc just I guess just a quick reminder um about for those of us who will be sending kids back to school after uh positive coid time five days at home that they do have to wear the mask still for day six through 10 after they tested positive that that has remained the policy throughout thank you Dr Carol for mentioning that and typically when we are informed of that the nurse and uh faculty and staff are aware that for
019that student returning and ask that they keep them on even if the symptoms have subsided you keep it on up until day 10 day 11 excuse me any additional questions about uh Co update and again I will share this information with parents tomorrow oh member white um superintendent J I was just wondering have you have you when you talk to your administrative team are they noticing that more masks are being used because of the uptick I I mean I certainly notice it going for me going into stores and going inside places I no there's more people are wearing masks in the last maybe week or two I just was wondering if you noticed anything in schools have I have I noticed yes have I asked the principles about it specifically in the individual schools I
020have not uh but we did talk about the increase on Tuesday at leadership meeting and uh one of the things that we continue to do is Dem monitor it and as I mentioned I'm going to encourage parents particularly indoors in in in large groupings encourage it can't mandate it but it definitely encourage it because I think it would be the right thing to do for us to get through the next month and a half any other questions all right if I could move move on uh I want to talk about something last night was a very good night for us uh we were in Milton High School auditorium with a high school uh Administration and leadership team celebrated and honored 263 students whether it was the sixth students in the base uh uh boys and
021girls base State that's where they nominate three students I mean three male students three female students we're able to spend one week at Stonehill College um working with other students over 100 other students from across the state as participants those students will have the opportunity to live on a college campus for a week uh and engage in the Democratic process all aspects of the democratic process from elections to programs and things like that that was only six students that were identified for that the century club we had 114 uh students uh acknowledged as members of the century club for those that don't know the century Club on is 100 students top academic Achievers students are selected on the basis of their unweighted the operative word there is unweighted class rank at the end of term
022three the membership is as follows 40 senior members 30 junior members 20 sophomores and 10 freshmen now if you do the math that adds up to a 100 but if they're ties in certain aspects they take the members that are tied as well so we were up to about4 last night which was a great night and then 127 students were inducted into the National Honor Society once again these the students screen for the selection for the membership in the National Honor Society begins after their first semester of their junior year they waited operative word is weed grade point average for grades 9 10 and 11 the first semester of the 11th grade must be at least a 3.7 uh GPA uh and so students who attain this average are invited to apply they have to
023apply for membership the application requires that the student details experience to show evidence of leadership character and service um it was very nice to see the students in the auditorium uh being recognized in front of their parents and it culminated with all of the students getting the yellow rose that yellow rose is symbolic uh and gives the students the opportunity to recognize those people in their lives that help them along the way to get to where they are so that was that was uh last night and then finally uh junior book awards it's a smaller group this year but the junior book awards are longstanding tradition it takes place at Milton High School where members of the junior class awarded books in prizes for their Scholastic and Civic efforts these awards are sponsored by college
024and university local alumni chapters offices and Admissions Office of Admissions and some staff and community members as well our very own select uh select board member uh Mike Zulus was on hand to give out his uh junior book award to a member of the junior class for Williams Co Williams College I think in Western MK so that was last night I don't know if anybody has any questions about the award ceremony I had the luxury in honor to be a a spectator um and then a very limited role in participating in it Amy Dexter and myself so it was a great night to see the students come together um I said to them last night I think the number was 7 790 something days since March 13th that we've been uh dealing with the pandemic
025and through it all the students showed their resiliency and persevered and still uh came out on top and and and showed their academic prowess so I was very pleased to that and it's getting back to talking about the academics in the the achievement of our students and so I was very happy with that that was last night in the Milton High School auditorium any questions on that yes chair rosan I just want to say congratulations to all those students that participated in last night's ceremony it it is um a a lot of work to become a member of the National Honor Society to have 127 of our these are just Juniors correct that that were inducted into the National Honor Society that is an impressive number of students who have as you said weathered through
026um you know great challenges in the last couple of years and um for them to be recognized by the National Honor Society is is really says a lot about all that they did to get to that moment and and congratulations to all of them and the junior book awards um re recipients as well it's it's it's just a century Club it's just a wonderful culmination of of U many of our students um hard work uh at Milton high school and and we and I think I speak for all of us say how proud We Are of of of the work that that has gone into those accomplishments and thank you chair rosemar and I Echo those sentiments when you look at this junior class um and we look at the past uh 26 months which
027spans three academic years um we focus on a lot of the challenges and the setbacks but this is one of the highlights this group right here have they have not had a full or normal year of high school um during this pandemic and here they are coming out on top uh showing their their commitment and their dedication to their academic so I greatly appreciate it uh being a part of that and so on behalf of the high school the students their families the Educators I just wanted to say congratulations publicly and kudos to all of them and then then my last update I know a lot of people have been waiting and it's been a long time since we had this public hearing I am pleased to announce publicly contracts assigned uh just this week
028uh I will be putting that out we have a new director the Dei director director of uh diversity equity and inclusion that's going to be CLA Galloway Jones and then we also have a new assistant superintendent of curriculum in personnel and that will be goth mckenny um and again I just want to say publicly I appreciate the community's patience but we don't want to put that out publicly until we sign on a dotted line for those that don't know if you look at what happened in Goth McKenna's Community they offered someone to superintendency and then abruptly pulled it back within the last 24 hours so you always want to wait until folks work out all of the Kinks and the details and and put their signature on that contract before you put it out and
029so I'm happy to say that we'll be putting that out tomorrow with a little bit of detail about both of those individuals so it is coming and chair rosemir knows this I went back and forth with it at and it was Monday morning uh where I got the word that uh there was some there was an agreement so I'm happy about that and I look forward to of both of those individuals joining the team CLA Galloway Jones has already reached out today looking for a couple of days to do some transition work goth mckenny has been in uh contact with uh Janet Sheen collecting data and getting information on the district so it looks like both of them are eager to get started they officially start on uh after July 1st that's when their contracts
030officially start but we will be working on some transition days so they could get a feel of the district while people are still here and also have the opportunity to meet some folks uh so we're looking forward to that and that is my update and I will take any questions if you have any questions or comments anyone superintendent Jed I I do had one thought and I don't know um whether it would be possible since um uh Mr mckenny and and Miss Galloway Jones won't be beginning until um after July 1 is it possible that they might be um able to come at our last school committee meeting so that we might introduce them and and meet them publicly um before uh the summer without question I mean they might even be able to if
031we're still remote they might even be able to do at the next school committee meeting uh I don't see that being a huge issue obviously I don't know what their current commitments are under their current districts particularly at night for those who don't know goth McKenna is currently the interim superintendent uh in his district and CLA Callaway Jones still has a leadership role in her current District so I would definitely ask you let me know what meeting you would like them to come to uh both of them have been very receptive and emailing and eager to go um oh and I didn't share with the Community tomorrow is our first meeting to start the process of the search for the uh interim uh principal of the Tucker Elementary School we're looking to uh get that
032underway the first meeting to talk about ground rules and going over policies and a little bit of training in that process that takes place tomorrow afternoon so it's been a busy weekk thank you superintendent jet um let's see um next on our agenda is the chair's report and the first item under that is the school choice uh recommendation and um I wonder if uh we can ask superintendent jet to um give us his recommendation uh regarding school choice and then we can discuss it and take a vote so at this point in time I my recommendation is not to move forward with the school choice as many of you folks know we've been talking about the the increasing enrollment we've been talking about the pinch on Spaces we converted a lot of spaces uh within
033the within all of the Milton Public Schools uh uh with the exception of the Tucker we haven't done much of that but they used a good portion of their gymnasium for classroom space for the entire pretty much the entire year so far so we've been very blessed in that regards but many of the libraries have been converted um walls have been put up and it came up we're Limited in the number of spaces that we could continue to add it came up in the last meeting when you start putting up walls it changes the sprinkler system and the ventilation system so we're very limited in what we could do if you walk into the Pierce Middle School um that beautiful team area space that used to be in grade eight is now that was for
034larger group activity and discussions now it is a classroom because we had to do it you have two classrooms now on opposite ends in the PS Middle School we have office space now created and divided behind the circulation desk in the library we did away with the world uh excuse me the language Labs so there's been a lot of Innovations in all of the schools and at this point in time uh we anticipate the enrollment is still going up at the last I check uh right now as of May 11th we have 130 prek students that'll be coming into the Milton public schools and as of today we have 349 uh registered kindergartens that does not count and if anybody's familiar with the Milton Public Schools August is a very busy month August and September
035with movein these are the folks that are here right now and committed to say that they're coming so at this point in time I would say it would be very difficult to do school choice um and increase those class sizes when we have to take care of the student the residents of the Town great thank you superintendent jet that open it up um for discussion member white I see your hand yeah um you know historically the only District in the area that I remember participating in school choice is Avon because I think they had small enrollment and they were looking to increase their enrollment by offering school choice are there any other districts in the area that participate in school choice that you're aware of I believe Brockton May uh participating school choice but it
036goes back to exactly what you says based on the enrollment and tried to make for the class sizes um but I think one of the biggest things we also need to think about once you make that choice that was part of that presentation you say you go school choice for this coming year and students move in those students students then stay in until they graduate or move out or they make the decision you can't force them to move out after that and I hate to use the term forc to move out but you know what I mean they have the right to stay until they graduate regardless if you resend the policy or not good night baby um and and we received a a spreadsheet um um with our materials for this evening's meeting from
037uh Charlene roach that has uh the school Choice Decisions by all districts in Massachusetts for uh La um 2020 uh 21 and 2122 um and just looking quickly at at some of our neighboring uh school districts as as superintendent jet said Brockton it looks like um they are on the list that they have said yes but I'm looking at all the other surrounding ones quickly it looks like Randolph does have a school choice quinsey no Canton no Sharon no um but if you look at if you look at randolphs and Roman I believe their high school has about 700 and something students in it it's much it's a it's probably a grade smaller than the Milton Public Schools I mean Milton high school so right Dr Miranda yes just just wondering historic have we always
038sort of run against this uh same dilemma of capacity a capacity issue well in my in my experience we've been having a growing crunch now obviously at the start of the pandemic last year we had a little bit of a a a valley uh and that was simply because we were in the hybrid model and some folks who had the means took their children out and put them in a private or apprio school for a year but we have since received some of those students back maybe not all but we received a lot of them back and then some so we're right back up to capacity and if I could add one more thing for the there's four elementary schools three of them were built uh with 500 student capacity that's kie car Cunningham and
039Glover all of them were over 600 Elaine mcnail gay School the Tucker school was built to the capacity of 400 now functioning about 470 um so that in itself leads me to believe or if you want my recommendation I say it would be very hard to add more students um in in consumer space that you know you might otherwise have for Town residents any other questions comments are we ready to move to a vote um well I will put forward a a motion uh um to that Milton not be a school choice district for the FY 23 school year I'll second that second thank you member white um and we'll do a roll call vote uh Dr Miranda yes member Ross Denny yes Dr Carol yes member white yes member vares yes and chair Rose
040Maron yes okay that is unanimous so that's a yes vote for no school choice that's correct I just I just want to make sure yes the motion the motion was to not become a school choice District that's right um and our our next item is for uh the um representative for the uh Southshore educational collaborative representative um annually South Shore education collaborative asks participating districts of which we are one to appoint a representative to act as a board member and uh superintendent Je has served in that capacity for um since he's been superintendent I I imagine correct superintendent um so um it I will make a motion and then we can discuss that if there's any uh questions or comments a motion being uh U made to appoint superintendent James jet to represent the Milton
041Public Schools as a board member for the Southshore educational collaborative for the 2022 2023 school year I'll second that thank you member white any discussion can I just add a piece for those that don't know um the Southshore collaborative makes up uh you know multiple different districts brain tree Cohasset hangam Hull mfield Milton BM1 Norwell Quincy Randolph situ wouth and Whitman inh and it is a collaborative that uh sometimes students who may not be a we may not be able to service in school they might go to the Southshore collaborative as one option and the superintendent typically as a superintendent from each of these districts that make up that Southshore collaborative board we have monthly meetings where we get together we talk about programming and and uh how to enhance that experience for our students
042who may uh take that Journey from or that trk from Milton to the Southshore collaborative in Hingham and how do we continue to best service those students and give them what they need academically socially and emotionally so for those who are new to the board for those who did not know I just wanted to give that piece thank you superintendent jet so those are for services for children with special needs is that correct great yes um any other questions or comments if not we'll move to a vote um let's see uh member variz um yes member white yes Dr Carol yes Dr Miranda yes member Ross Denny yes chair rosemar and yes so that is unanimous and and thank you superintendent for serving in that capacity um next on the agenda is our finance subcommittee
043report and I'll pass that on to member white okay um we have three warrants to approve tonight and I'm gonna have Beverly Ross Denny do the first one I am making I would like to make a motion to approve Fender warrant number second do we need a roll call vote for this one okay um member rosem Marin yes Dr Carol oh sorry go ahead Amy am I think you should mention the dollar the total dollar amount and the date of the warrant okay let me open up the file the date of the file is April 14 2022 in the amount of $ 49,4 3261 and member white cannot vote on that so let's go back to our roll call vote member Rose Maron yes Dr Carol yes member White stain Dr Miranda yes and member
044VES yes unanimous vote next is up to you Betty okay so I'm gonna move on two motions um vendor number um V vendor warrant number 44 dated April 19th and vendor warrant number 45 dated April 28th in the AM of $7,295 68 and $585,500 yes a member Vargis yes member Raj Denny yes and member white yes okay that's unanimous and that's all we have for finance tonight very good thank you very much and and last thing on our agenda is next meeting agenda items uh so our next meeting is Ed for what's the date 25th 25th right um and I don't have the uh the list of items that might already be on there are there any um particular agenda items that oh I see some hands up uh Dr Carol would she start um
045the things I was going to mention are um to add citizen speak back onto the agenda yes to um that we will have a policy report [Music] um and um also I'm I guess wondering if not the next meeting at the one after that I'm assuming that we will need to schedule executive session because um we have a um we're about to start tomorrow negotiations with a second Union but negotiations with the mea have been well underway and I think we should um provide some updates to the committee on those so that's not that agenda per se but just to put that out there so with that be the the uh first one in June then Dr carolon not to so we have one a meeting on May 25th and we have one on June
0461st um is that I'm I'm just I guess I am not um I am not sure I guess I I'll defer to someone who has been here uh through a previous round of negotiations to know how closely we need to keep the committee updated as we move toward finalizing uh contracts so I I'm not sure um what makes the most sense okay well we'll we'll we'll discuss it and um it'll be either I would say either the 25th or June 1st uh depending on what else we have on the agenda and and that would be an executive session and these are proposed items that you would include on the agenda and as we get close to the week before that agenda is finalized so don't feel compelled to have everything listed right now but some
047Initial Ideas right great thank you thank you and uh member white I see your hand up yeah um I wanted to talk about maybe on an agenda item for next meeting residency because I would like to sort of review what the have the superintendent review with the what the guidelines are for residency how residency is established you know and in what grades it is reestablished to just an update because we haven't really talked about it in probably a couple of years I'd just like to have an update okay thank you all right I think that that pretty much does it and and you know I I apologize I didn't mention in the beginning of this meeting that we did not include the citizen speak on this meeting because it is a shortened meeting and starting
048so so late but yes indeed Dr Carol we will we will uh put citizens speak back on uh for other regular meetings that typically start at 7 o'clock instead of 8:30 as it did tonight so I think that um that ought to do it for this evening I would entertain a motion to adjourn motion toj turn thank you I second okay sounds sounds good I'll do a r roll call vote Dr Carol yes M white yes member Ros Denny yes member varges yes Dr Miranda yes and chair rosemar and yes that ought to do it all right thank you everyone have a good night good night everyone you good night everyone good night